fortune; by name, Alexander Nevell, Archbishop of York; Robert Vere, Duke of Ireland; Michael de la Poole, Earl of Suffolk, then Lord Chancellor; Robert Tresilian, Lord Chief Justice of England; and Nicholas Brambre, sometimes mayor of London.

These men, being raised from mean estates by the special favour of the king, and advanced to the degree of privy-counsellors, were the men who had the only rule of the commonwealth, which they, under the king, governed for some small space with careful diligence, meriting thereby deserved commendations. But not long did they thus steer the ship of the kingdom; for, many of them being of inferior rank by birth, not having their veins dignified with the streams of noble blood, they were the sooner inticed with the libidinous baits of voluptuousness, and infected with the insatiable itch of avarice; insomuch that, despising the authority of the king, and neglecting the commodity of the realm, but only desiring to keep up the revenues of the kingdom, so wrought, that, by their policy, the king is impoverished, and the treasure exhausted; the commons murmur at the multiplicity of tenths, levies, and subsidies; the peers repine to see themselves disgraced, and their inferiors honoured; and, in a word, the whole kingdom endures an universal misery.

The nobility, seeing the miserable state wherein the kingdom lay, bleeding, as it were, to death, urged their king to summon a parliament; which was done shortly after; in which, amongst many other acts, the aforesaid Michael de la Poole is dismissed from his chancellorship; and, being accused of divers and many points of injustice, as bribery, extortion, and the like, he was soon after cast into the castle of Windsor, and all his lands, which were of no small revenue, were confiscated to the king. Neither did the parliament here give over, but provided further for the whole state: By the mutual consent of the king and prelates, barons and commons, with an unanimous conjunction, they constitute, and give plenary and absolute power to certain commissioners, as well of the spiritualty, as of the temporalty, for the ordering and disposing of the publick affairs, according as shall seem best and most necessary for the desperate state of the commonwealth, to depress civil dissensions, and to pacify and appease the grudgings of the people.

Of the spiritualty, were chosen the Archbishop of Canterbury, the aforenamed Bishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, lately made Chancellor of England; the Bishop of Winchester, Bishop of Hereford, Lord Treasurer; Bishop of Exeter, Abbot of Walcham, and the Lord John of Waltham.

Of the laity were elected the Duke of York, the Earl of Arundel, the Lord Coltham, the Lord Scroope, and John Devereux, knight. These, as men eminent in virtue, were chosen by the general suffrage, and sworn to carry themselves as dutiful and obedient subjects in all their actions. And it was further enacted, that, if any should refuse, or disobey, the ordinances so made for publick good, the punishment of his first offence should be the confiscation of his goods; and, for the second, the loss of life. Thus disposing all things for the best, the parliament being dissolved, every man returned to his own house.

Soon after, the aforenamed chancellor, with others of their confederates, being moved with implacable fury against the statutes of the

late parliament, they buzzed into the king's ears, that the statutes, lately enacted, were very prejudicial to the honour of his crown, and much derogatory to his princely prerogative; insomuch that he should not have power, without the consent of the new appointed commissioners, to do any thing befitting a king, no, not so much as to bestow a largess; a principal means to gain the people's love upon any, though never so well deserving.

By these, and other the like instigations, with which the devil (as never unmindful of the end of those, who by their lives do prove themselves) did continually supply them, they practised to annihilate and disannul these acts of the parliament, which seemed any ways to abbreviate or curb their usurped authority.

And, first, by their serpentine tongues, ambitious projects, flattery painted out with glossing discourses, and covered over with the shadow of vigilancy for the good of the kingdom, they so bewitched the noble inclination of the youthful king, whom they induced to believe that all the ill they did was a general good, that he began to distaste, and at last to abhor the last passed acts, as treacherous plots, and most wicked devices.

Next, They studied how to ingross all, or the most part, of the wealth and riches of the kingdom, into their own coffers; and, to the same end, dealed so cunningly, yet pleasingly, with the king, that he gave to the Duke of Ireland, John of Bloys, the heir of the duchy of Brittany, and his ransom; to others, towns; to others, cities; to others, lands; to others, money; amounting to the sum of one hundred thousand marks, to the great impoverishment both of king and kingdom; neither did these king eaters and realm devourers any thing regard it, but, setting unskilful and insufficient captains and governors over towns and forts so obtained, gave occasion to the enemies of the crown to surprise them, and dispossess the king of them.

Thirdly, Vilifying the dignity of the king, contrary to their allegiance, they drew the king to swear, that, with all his power, during his life, he should maintain and defend them from all their enemies, whether foreign or domestick,

Fourthly, Whereas it was enacted by the last parliament, that the king, at certain seasonable times, and when his leisure would permit him, should sit at Westminster, with his council there, to consult of the publick affairs; through the persuasions of the aforesaid conspirators, he was drawn into the remotest parts of the realm, to the great disparagement of the fidelity of those honourable, grave, and faithful peers, late made joint commissioners, in whose hands the whole safety and prosperity of the commonwealth did reside.

And whenas the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, Keeper of the Privy-Seal, or any other of their privy-council, came to relate any of their own actions, or the state of the realm, they could not be granted access, unless they related the business in the presence and hearing of the conspirators, who were always ready to upbraid them, if they uttered any thing that displeased them; and to commend them for any thing, though most nefarious, that did content them; for thus could they the sooner learn and dive into the acts of the commissioners, and the better find

evasions for their accusations. Furthermore, whenas the king, in company of the conspirators, went in progress towards the parts of Cheshire, Wales, and Lancashire, they made proclamation, in the king's name, throughout the shires, as they journied, that all barons, knights, esquires, with the greatest part of the commonalty able to bear arms, should speedily repair to the king for his defence against the power of the commissioners, chiefly of the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of Arundel, because they, above the rest, did, with their chiefest endeavours, study to suppress and quell the devices of the conspirators.

Fifthly, Contrary to the aforesaid acts, they caused the Duke of Ireland to be created Chief Justice of Chester, thereby selling justice as they listed, condemning the guiltless, and remitting the guilty, never respecting or looking unto the equal balance of justice, but poising down the scales with heaps of bribery.

Sixthly, By the procurement of the confederates, they caused certain honest persons, who would not consent to their extortions, to be called and summoned to their court, and there to answer to certain false accusations, wherewith they were unjustly charged by perjured hirelings; of which men so accused, some were put to death, some cast into prison, all were vexed and troubled with delays, length of their journey to and fro, and excessive charges; neither were they eased of any of their burthens, unless they would part with round sums of money to the duke and his accomplices.

Seventhly, They gave pardons under the broad seal to felons, murtherers, and such like, only with this condition, that they should murther any whomsoever they thought did mislike their exaction.

Eighthly, They taught the country of Ireland to look to its pristine state; I mean, of having a king; for they plotted to have the Duke created king of Ireland; and, for the confirmation of which their design, they allured the king to send his letters to the Pope.

Ninthly, The aforesaid Nicholas Brambre, in the time of his mayoralty, caused twenty-two to be falsely accused of felonies, and laid into Newgate, under pretext and colour of divers crimes; and, in the silent and dead time of the night, to be fast bound, and, by a strong hand, to be carried into Kent, to a place commonly called Fawlocks, and then to have their heads struck off, except one, who, being favoured by the murtherers, safely escaped; the blood of the rest dyed the streams of a small rivulet adjoining.

Tenthly, Soon after, to add one mischief to another, they sent letters, under the king's signet, to the Mayor of London, by John Rippon, clerk, with a certain libel, or schedule, inclosed in the said letters, the tenor of which is as followeth :

That the aforenamed three commissioners, viz. the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, and others of the council, were to be arrested, indicted, condemned, and put to lamentable death, as being such as had conspired against the king, against his prerogative, and against his crown and imperial dignity; and this they did, in a manner, constrain the king to assent unto. Upon receipt of these letters, the mayor and aldermen of the city of London called a common council, wherein they consulted what course was best to be taken in this

matter; and, after long debate pro and con, it was on all sides agreed, to deny and not to suffer that cruel and unheard of tragical complot to be executed.

It ever happeneth, one wicked act draws on a second, and that second a third, and so forwards, till the weight cracks the supporter.

Therefore the said conspirators, being blinded with rashness, principally sent letters by John Godfrey, knight, to the King of France, the king's adversary, to conclude a five years truce, who should come over to Calais, and from thence should send for the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, and for some other of the commissioners, as though the king were unwilling to determine of any thing without their advice; and, being thus circumvented, should be condemned as traitors, and so put to an ignominious and cruel death.

And, for the doing and performing of these things, the King of France was to recover all the castles, towns, and lands, lying in these countries, and belonging to the King of England. To prove these things to be true, there were certain writings produced by the commissioners, wherein were contained letters from the king of France to the king of England, and from the conspirators, in the king of England's name, to the king of France.

Moreover, there were other letters intercepted, directed to the said king of France; the substance whereof was to incite the king of France to levy a puissant power, both horse and foot, and to draw them down to Boulogne, and thence to transport them into England, against the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, and the rest of the commissioners, and all those that did either countenance or favour the said statutes and commissioners; which, as they falsly alledged, were made in derogation of the king's prerogative; and the aforesaid commissioners to vanquish, oppress, and put to death, and consequently, the whole nation and language utterly to ruin.

Not here concluding their devilish conspiracy, the five aforesaid conspirators departed from Westminster to the castle of Nottingham, and sent a writ for Robert Beale, lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, John Holt, Roger Fulthorp, and William Burleigh, judges of the said court, and for John Locton, the king's serjeant at law: Who being come into the council-chamber, not knowing what they were sent for, the aforesaid conspirators caused the gates and doors of the castle to be shut, and then propounded these questions following unto them:

First, Whether those statutes, ordinances, and commission, made in the late parliament at Westminster, were derogatory to the king's dignity and kingly prerogative? And because they were to be punished who did procure those constitutions, and did incite and move the king to consent unto them, and did, as much as in them lay, to hinder the king from exercising his royal prerogative.

To these, and other the like questions, with a joint consent, they answered, That they were to suffer death as traitors, or else to endure some capital punishment: In witness of which assertion, being terrified with the fear of present death, the aforesaid judges, together with John Carey, lord chief Baron of the Exchequer, they signed and sealed a certain writing, in manner of a protestation, in presence of these witnesses,

Alexander Nevill, Archbishop of York; Robert, Duke of Ireland; Michael, Earl of Suffolk; John Rippon, clerk; and John Blake, fruiterer; dated the 19th of September, anno dom. 1387, in the eleventh year of the reign of King Richard the Second. Then were they compelled to swear that they should keep the passages undiscovered, upon pain of death; and so they had licence to depart. And, when they had plotted those and many other devilish conspiracies, they bound themselves, by an oath, to try all ways, and use all means, as far forth as lay in their power, to disannul and utterly abrogate the acts and statutes of the last parliament.

And, that which is worse, they caused the king to swear, that in his proper person with his whole power he should take revenge of the Duke of Gloucester, of the two earls and their adherents, by causing them to be put to death.

The carriage of all which actions may more easily be known, if the time and the order of them be duly considered.

But our merciful and ever-gracious God, although there were so many plots, so many conspiracies, so many treasons wrought against our state, whereby many miseries did accrue to our kingdom; yet unwilling to take revenge, or to punish us for our sins, but rather, according to his gracious pity, to ease us of our burthenous calamity; inspired into the hearts of the aforesaid Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the spirit of valour and magnanimity: Who seeing the heap of ills that daily did arise by the practices of those conspirators, they set almost in every part of the kingdom intelligencers, who should apprehend all messengers, and intercept all letters of the king, or that went under the king's name, and should send them to the commissioners.

And thus did they come to have intelligence of the whole plot of the conspirators; all their letters being indorsed with Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, and good-will towards men:' And, by coming to the knowledge of each circumstance, they found that the kingdom was at the point of destruction, according to that evangelical saying, 'Every kingdom divided against itself shall be dissolved: Wherefore they sought for a remedy; for, by the law of nature, it is tolerable to repel violence by violence; Since it is better to prevent than to apply a remedy to a wound, every man according to his ability levied a power for the preservation of the king and kingdom; all which forces being united, amounting to the number of twenty-thousand fighting men, and courageously resolved to frustrate all the intended designs of the conspirators, and to open the nut by cracking the shell; they divided their army, committing part of it to the Earl of Arundel, who, by night, marched away with his forces, and pitched his tents near to London, there fortifying himself in the forest adjoining, until such time as he had gained more convenient time and greater force, by the coming of his consorts. And in the mean time he used such discipline in his camp, that he lacked nothing, but all things were there sold at reasonable rates, as it had been at a market; and hardly could he contain the common people from joining with him, for the overthrow of the conspirators and their adherents.